A monthly update from the Chronic Homelssness Initiative
A monthly update from the Chronic Homelssness Initiative
Dear Friends,
People ask me all the time about the best ways to reduce homelessness. Our neighbors want to know what we’re trying, what works, and how to most effectively address the crisis on our streets.
At Tipping Point, we invest in the most effective solutions. 85% of people who move into Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) — housing with supportive services like mental health care and case management — never experience homelessness again. We support the City’s efforts to expand the supply of PSH and transition more people from Navigation Centers and shelters into this kind of housing. Because it works.
San Francisco has helped more people exit homelessness than ever before, but homelessness continues to increase. Currently, the City adds to its PSH inventory through new construction and master leasing residential buildings. The City has plans to build and master lease nearly 1,200 new PSH units by 2022, some with funding support from Tipping Point. Simply put, these existing strategies are insufficient to meet the demand for more permanent supportive housing.
To complement these strategies and more rapidly increase San Francisco’s supply of PSH, we are partnering with the City and Brilliant Corners, a supportive housing non-profit, to build upon the success of the Moving On Initiative
By helping hundreds more people secure homes on the private market and providing services where they live, we can rapidly expand availability of PSH throughout San Francisco and help more people experience the hope and pride of a new home. Read this month’s Spotlight to learn how we can scale this program to help more of our neighbors get—and stay—housed.
All my best,
Daniel

Spotlight: Supportive Housing throughout San Francisco to Reduce Homelessness

Every night, the City of San Francisco provides housing and shelter to more than 12,000 people, over 9,000 of whom live in PSH. Over decades, the City has built or master-leased dozens of buildings to serve this purpose, and in the next three years we estimate that the City will build and master-lease another 1,200 homes.
Our PSH supply is an effective and necessary tool to reduce homelessness, but it is not growing fast enough to serve the increasing number of people experiencing homelessness.  We need to supplement construction and master-leasing of new PSH by scaling a faster and more nimble strategy: using City-funded investments to enable Brilliant Corners to secure vacant units for people moving out of homelessness in neighborhoods all across San Francisco.
Brilliant Corners specializes in making private-market units available to people exiting homelessness by providing comprehensive support to both landlords and tenants. Brilliant Corners’ Housing Acquisition Specialists provide landlords with financial incentives and logistical support, and manage every aspect of tenant move-in far beyond move-in day. Tenants pay 30% of their income towards rent and enjoy increased autonomy in their new home while receiving the supportive services they need to remain stably housed.
Other cities have also enjoyed success housing people in a wide range of neighborhoods with supportive services meeting them where they are. In Los Angeles, Brilliant Corners has helped nearly 7,000 people transition into PSH in the first 5 years of its Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool program, and 96% of people remained housed after their first year. Clients also saw significant improvements in health outcomes, which, accounting for the cost of services provided in their new homes, resulted in a net cost savings of 20% for LA County.

Who's Making It Happen

Eric Mills, Brilliant Corners Housing Manager
I have been in the non-profit sector for about six years and have a passion to help those who are disenfranchised from safe, affordable housing — those who have been displaced by skyrocketing rents and those who are simply forgotten. I get a sense of satisfaction from moving someone from a place of hopelessness and despair to a place of hope and purpose.

From delivering food and survival supplies to neighbors living under bridges, to opening his garage to people who needed a safe place to sleep, Eric Mills has always worked to offer a hand up when someone needs it. After several years helping families transition into housing at Hamilton Families, Eric now brings the talents and tenacity of a salesman to recruit landlords and property managers to rent their units to people exiting homelessness. Through his work as a Housing Manager, Eric helps more people play an active role in advancing solutions to homelessness in every neighborhood of San Francisco.
Eric establishes strong relationships, building trust and enthusiasm with property providers, who often end up calling on him to fill newly-vacant units with Brilliant Corners clients.  

What We're Reading

Pushed Out, Attacked, and Criminalized: San Francisco’s Unhoused People Speak Out Amid Housing Crisis – Democracy Now and Coalition on Homelessness members provide a platform for our unhoused neighbors to relate their experiences, with a special focus on what happens when they lose possessions in street sweeps.
America’s Largest Health Insurer is Giving Apartments to Homeless People – Dr. Jeffrey Brenner is pushing the insurer UnitedHealth Group to fund housing by prescription, and in the process is improving outcomes while reducing service costs.

Chronic Homelessness Initiative Overview

There are approximately 3,000 people experiencing chronic homelessness on any given night in San Francisco. Tipping Point’s $100 million pledge marks the single largest private investment to address homelessness in City history.

Tipping Point takes a three-pronged approach to our impact goal. See here for more details. If you are receiving this email as a forward, subscribe here to receive this update monthly.
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